Looking to boost your score in the GMAT Verbal Section? Here are a brief set of guidelines to follow when starting out!

• Critical Reasoning

Critical reasoning inclines the reader to read the question BEFORE the argument. By doing so, readers are capable of discerning the topic in play prior to reading the argument and do what is necessary (i.e. weakening the argument or making inferences).

• Reading Comprehension

Unlike the SAT or ACT where this may vary according to test taker preference, it is strongly suggested that takers read the PASSAGE first for the GMAT. This is the preferable strategy as not only can are the readers forced to understand all details in the passage (rather than subconsciously disregard those not pertinent to the question), but readers are also capable of answering all questions in a timely manner without switching back and forth. …

1.Use Online GMAT Forums to Study the Intricacies of Questions

For any challenging problem which you have trouble finding an answer to, never just move on. Even if you guessed it right, always search the problem up in the active and broader GMAT community. Consult either GMAT software or books for a comprehensive analysis, or feel free to seek online forums in GMAT Club or Manhattan Prep’s GMAT forum, both of which provide reliable answers for thousands of questions.

2. Time Yourself and Limit Accordingly

The rule of thumb on the GMAT, is to never take longer than two and a half minutes per question., MOre often than not, particularly in the quantitative section, challenging questions may force you to use up even three minutes, which is exactly why it is SO important to be efficient in the rest of the test. …

October 13, 2016

Sean Go

In a previous article, we covered how NOT to dress in investment banking / finance interviews. Today we cover what you can wear to these interviews.

1. Wear traditionally light colors: These colors include really light shades of blue and grey, and white. Other light colors may be okay, but typically you cannot go wrong with a classic white shirt.
2. Business Casual means wear a full suit and tie: Better to stay on the safe side and dress-up rather than down.
3. Have your belt color match your shoe color: You can’t go wrong with this classic principle. …

In investing, it is often challenging to make decisions very objectively. Here are 3 common behavioral economics phenomena that affect people, whether they realize it or not.

Pattern Seeking: Pattern seeking refers to the bias that we have when we seek out patterns that confirm our initial hypothesis. For example if you were to spot the rule in the following sequence “2,4,6” and initially gave the hypothesis numbers by go up by 2, you will confirm your hypothesis if you see another sequence 8,10,12. But maybe the rule could have just been “any 3 ascending numbers.”

Incomplete Memories/Recency Bias: This refers to the tendency for us to base our most recent events, or what the information that is most accessible to us the most a greater weighting when evaluating decisions. Our biological nature only allows us to remember the past in a limited capacity, as witnessed by our class not being able to recall our lunches the week before. In the example in lecture, investors also base their decisions more based on the emotional retrievability of an event. For example, many of the investors who suffered huge losses in the financial crisis were quick to remember these losses, even if on aggregate their returns were still positive. This is most likely due to the gradual positive earnings compared to the sudden negative drop. …

Over the years, private equity buyout funds outperformed public markets in all major regions over longer time horizons. Both the number of buyout funds and the value of buyout capital sought were up in 2015. Finally, positive cash flow from distributions supported new PE buyout fund commitments in all major regions. The trends outlined are a direct function of value creation by private equity funds. Some of the strategies for value creation are outlined below.

Transparency: the solution to asymmetric information

• In private equity, management are legalized insiders, so there is a lot more transparency[i] According to Partner’s Group founder Urs Wietlibach, it is better to invest in PE than public markets because PE managers have access to all information, while there is asymmetric information in public markets. …

An MBA is a great way to boost your career. However, getting into a top 20 program is not easy. One has to face a number of obstacles from acing the GMAT to developing the right amount of work experience. For candidates who may be lacking in some components of the application, here are some tips that will help differentiate and strengthen your candidacy for an MBA.

1. Reach out to Alumni and Students: This is probably the best way to improve your candidacy in any stage of the application process. Before you apply, you can speak to alumni so that you can write tailored essays to the school and understand the schools’ values. When you get an interview, speaking to alumni and students is good practice, and will really help you find hidden gems and experiences that will show the interviewer the school you are applying for is not just another school in a grocery list of schools — but the one that YOU ultimately want to enroll…

Cornell is an Ivy league with a broad range of courses all highly ranked — from the business school to architecture — you cannot go wrong with Cornell!

Here is an essay I wrote a few years back to receive admissions from Cornell:

From childhood to high school, I have been engaged in activities relevant to Urban Studies: developing a Star Wars model empire, enrolling in International Baccalaureate (IB) Higher Level Geography, and travelling all over the globe.

As a young boy, I created the Star Wars universe in my room by building numerous Lego empires, allocating spaces in my room to the multitudes of Star Wars planets — Dagobah, Tatooine, and Hoth, to name a few. My favorite part of this pastime was planning the creation of the distinct planet environments by using realistic ornaments to complement the rectangular Lego blocks. I bought Japanese bonsais to imitate the forest setting of Dagobah; I designed Tatooine using sand, pipes, and other metal scrap. I also used flattened cotton balls and instant snow powder to create the distinct icy terrain of Hoth. …

Sean Go

Over the past years, many anxious pre-business students at UC Berkeley have wondered how to best approach the Haas School of Business’ undergraduate application essay. As with many undergraduate institutions like NYU and University of Michigan, UC Berkeley restricts admissions to its business school to maintain selectivity, and has students undergo a rigorous application in order to carefully craft its class size. The following essay is a successful one that one of our mentors submitted to Haas. …